Stone Xocoveza Mocha Stout

[Tyler B]

Sorry... I've been procrastinating with this one.

The beer was amazingly delicious. Definitely one of the best I've ever brewed. It was probably a touch more spicy than I would have liked, but still awesome. Everything else was spot on for me. Lots of friends (two who own breweries) tasted and said they wouldn't change anything about it. Several said it reminded them of the holidays and desserts. My wife and I loved it and we actually pulled a couple bottles off the keg and set aside. Drank one to kick off our two week Lockdown quarantine. We have one left.

I will, without question, brew this again and will change VERY little from what I did.

Enjoy a pic while I work on posting my recipe.

 

[Tyler B]

Here was my recipe. Please note my efficiency sucks so I adjusted my grains and Lactose to give me the right starting and finishing gravity.

OG 1.089
FG 1.027

Maris Otter Pale 46.1%
Pale 2-row 27.6%
Munich Light 2.8%
CaraMunich III 4.6%
Chocolate malt 6.4%
Roasted Barley 3.2%
Flaked Oats 2.3%
Carafoam 2.3%

Mash at 65-66C for 90 mins
Boil for 60 mins

50g Perle (60 mins)
115 g Cacoa nibs (15 mins)
Yeast nutrient (10 mins)
1 tab Whirlfloc (10 mins)
0.5 kg Lactose (10 mins) 4.6%
25g East Kent Golding (5 mins)
55 g coarse ground espresso beans (0 mins)
10 g Cinnamon (0 mins)
1 tsp fresh ground nutmeg (0 mins)

S-04 yeast (direct pitch, no rehydration) shake like crazy for oxygen

Transferred to secondary after 2 weeks and added everything from tincture (spices and alcohol). Removed spices after 1 day of contact.

Kegged after a little less than 2 weeks in secondary. Left in keg for another month or so before starting to drink.

Tincture recipe made about two weeks before brew day (same as previous post):
21 g Cinnamon
3 Vanilla beans
18 g dried Pasilla chilis
26 g dried Ancho chilis
15 g dried Mulato chilis
Enough vodka to cover

Next time I'll probably use 3/4 as much chili and cinnamon throughout recipe. I intentionally shot for more spice this time because I always wanted to try Xocoveza with a bit more spice. I've tried it, it was good. No regrets. Next time though I'll reduce it just a touch.

 

[Tyler B]

How is this going?

Let me know if you want any more info or have any questions. I'm happy to share. Thanks to everyone else who contributed to this thread!

 

[Tyler B]

Bumping this thread because I made another tincture today. Gearing up to brew in a week or two and wanted to remind others how awesome this beer is and how wonderful it is to have during the holidays.

 

[phyllobeddo]

Bumping this thread because I made another tincture today. Gearing up to brew in a week or two and wanted to remind others how awesome this beer is and how wonderful it is to have during the holidays.

Thanks for the reminder! This is a great recipe. I believe it's time to revisit this one as I have enough Maris Otter in stock to brew this. I think I need cacao nibs and vanilla beans, though.

Also, Xocoveza 2020 should be out soon here in Alabama if it's not already.

 

[glenm]

Bumping this thread because I made another tincture today. Gearing up to brew in a week or two and wanted to remind others how awesome this beer is and how wonderful it is to have during the holidays.

This is a great beer. I made my third Hot Chocolate Stout a year ago using as close as I could get to this recipe. In August I uncovered a half-full sixtel, it is still seriously awesome. I didn't actually use real vanilla beans, I had a bunch of "food industry grade" vanilla extract lying around (and being geared to the food industry, it was a large container!) and used some of that at kegging.

 

[PearlJam]

I have this on my list to brew.

I don't have access to pasilla chilli, only in powder form. Is there other chillis that can be recommended or would the powder do the job? If the powder is fine, how much should I use as substitute?

 

[rickyrich]

I have this on my list to brew.

I don't have access to pasilla chilli, only in powder form. Is there other chillis that can be recommended or would the powder do the job? If the powder is fine, how much should I use as substitute?

The pasilla chiles don't add much heat at all. It's very subtle. I've even tried to add more than the recipe calls for and they didn't add that much of a boost. I've had the version from Insurgente and it was much better (heavier spice profile, more heat). I think you can use whatever you want and be fine. The next time I make it I will add a variety of them. Hope that helps!

 

[InspectorJon]

I have this on my list to brew.

I don't have access to pasilla chilli, only in powder form. Is there other chillis that can be recommended or would the powder do the job? If the powder is fine, how much should I use as substitute?

Ancho chili peppers would be a close substitute. Not particularly hot and they have a bit of the raisin thing going on.

 

[PearlJam]

Thanks. I will see what else I can get, but I do want some heat coming through

 

[InspectorJon]

A lot of the heat is in the seeds and membrane around the seeds.

 

[Craiginthecorn]

I just brewed this for the first time. I reduced the chilies from 2 to 1-1/2, scraping out the seeds. It still had obvious heat, at least in the tincture. In the beer, it's obviously going to be less noticable, but it's still enough for me. The cinnamon is the dominant flavor. Due to a scaling issue that I didn't notice in time, I used twice as many cacao nibs. They were added in the mash. I think it was a fortunate mistake.

It's quite delicious, even though I blundered with the quantity of water I added and thus ended up with a lower OG 7.5% ABV beer. I used Denny's Favorite 1450 yeast, which should help give it an appropriate amount of body. It's sitting on CO2, just to get it up to 1.2 volumes to serve on nitro.

 

[PearlJam]

I am thinking of freezing a habanero and then add half of it in the fermenter (I do 2.5g batches) for the last 4 days. Does this seem ok to start with?

Rather too little than too much

 

[InspectorJon]

Habaneros a quite hot. If you make a tincture with the peppers you can add it to taste at packaging time. Add a little and taste until you like it. If you put the pepper in the fermenter and it's too hot there is really no going back. It will age out to some extent but that takes a long time.

 

[Kold Brygg]

I haven't done this myself, but this or a similar is on the to-do-list.

Linking to a recipe i consider, mostly as a reminder for myself, but great if anybody find it useful
https://beermaverick.com/stone-xocevesa-imperial-mocha-stout-clone/

 

[mashpaddled]

I don't think habanero will get what you want in this beer. Habaneros are citrusy and far more spicy than the other peppers used. Ancho, pasilla, etc. are less hot and when dried develop those darker fruit, raisin, etc. flavors. You can use a lot more of them for more flavor impact to get the same amount of heat as a small amount of habanero.

 

[Tyler B]

Bumping because I'm about to brew my annual batch. Absolutely delicious beer to have around for the holidays. This year, I'm going to make it a bit bigger... maybe 9.25% or so.

 

[Shenanigans]

Bumping because I'm about to brew my annual batch. Absolutely delicious beer to have around for the holidays. This year, I'm going to make it a bit bigger... maybe 9.25% or so.

Good stuff, how did it go?
Do you have a favourite/final recipe now?
I would love to give this a shot but probably the next chance I'll get to brew will be in September or October so might be too late to be ready for the holidays.
Does it hold up well for over a year or have you never had it last that long?

Edit:
Just seen Tyler B has been online in 1.5 years

Anyone else with some input?